Hi to all Japanese Speakers and Readers out there on the internet,
i got a little problem. Maybe a Japanese speaker can help me! A while ago I got a present and I have simply no idea what it is? Is it Sake? Is it Shōchū? Unfortunately all names or indications are in Japanese letters and I have totally no knowledege in Japanese writing. The giver of the present has no idea as well.
I just would like to know what I will drink in the near future, what quality (high quality, low quality, …) , which producer, where it is from or just anything would be great! I have no clue at all!
I do not speak Japanese, but I represent several sake breweries in the US and look at a lot of labels. I recognize the characters for “sake”, “junmai” (pure rice) and “ginjo” (basically made from highly polished rice - a good thing!). It may also be a"dai" ginjo (even more polished), but I don’t see the character for “dai” on there. But it’s pretty scripted and a native speaker might see something I don’t. But at least you know it’s a Junmai Ginjo.
Junmai Ginjo sakes a generally considered to be very high quality, but as with Burgundy, producer, producer, producer…
Is there a number on the back label like +6? That would be the sake meter value which can provide you with a relative indication of how sweet or dry it is. Do you see any letter combination (such as AB AC AB) on the top of the capsule or anywhere else? Sometimes brewers use a code to date their sakes.
I’ll have to defer to native speakers for the rest of your questions as I am not familiar with this specific sake. But I can tell you that you should probably drink it soon. Sake has a limited shelf life and often the better stuff tends to go faster if it isn’t refrigerated.
I am happy to digress on any other general questions you may have about sake or what I mentioned above.
純米 jun-mai (pure rice)
吟醸酒 gin-ｊou-shuu (sake brewed like a poem)
big letters indicating the name:
飛良鬼 hi-ryou-oni (this pronunciation is only an educated guess, as names are notoriously unpredictable), meaning: Flying Demon (Demon that can fly)
thanks for your quick answer! I think it is already quite a lot of information. Far more than I got .
Thanks for that!
Unfortunately there are no Roman letters on the lables/box or on or alongside the capsule. Only Japanese and numbers (720 ml, 40% - I guess polish percentage, a date 08.11 - probably August 2011 and the numer “16” a few Kanjis and “17”). No “A” or “B” or “C”.
I am sure I will drink it in a few weeks! It wasn’t refridgerated. Only stored in a cooler cellar.
I will write about it!
It is Jumai Ginjyo sake named Hiraizumi. According to the internet, it is from Akita Prefecture (close to the northwest tip of Honshu, or the main island of Japan) and the small sake house has been making sake there since 1487, over 26 generations. It looks like the Junmai Ginjyo is this house’s highest end bottling. Sounds like it is handmade from start to finish and they only make very limited quantities. One tasting note says that it is fruity on the nose while refined and soft on the palate. It is recommend that this is served chilled.
I guess it really sounds like a decent Sake! Thanks for your answers!
I am pretty surprised about the Akita Prefecture fact. I did not even know about Sake from there!
That is new to me. This far north! Wow! Well, as I’ve mentioned earlier - not a lot of knowledge about Sake anyway!
I think I will try it next weekend. Looking forward to. I’ll report!
Have it suitably chilled, and let it warm in the bottle/glass.
They make Sake pretty much everywhere outside of Kyushu (shochu country) and Okinawa (Awamori-country). It can be complicated in terms of style, producer and terroir!
Meanwhile I enjoyed my mysterious bottle of sake aaaaand I have to admit it was really great stuff!
Here my little and not really sake competent tasting note:
The colour appeared almost crystal clear like springwater (maybe some minimal yellowish reflexes), but of course far more viscous than water. The nose was very complex and frequently shifting (probably just my ignorant observation). I might describe my nose impression as a very intriguing experience. I guess it is best to perform some attribute dropping: fresh grass, white fruits, banana leaves, mellow bananas, pistachios, green tomatoes, bamboo, white chocolate, spicy rice desert aromas, a lot of white flower, hints of herbs, almonds, minerals and maybe even more. I really can’t reproduce my entire nose impression. Simply far too much to put in the frame of a simple tasting note! In nose conclusion: it was very complex, rather delicate and definitely inspirational. The taste was pretty dry, very pronounced and clear (perhaps like springwater), absolutely not bitter and showed quite a bit of well integrated alcohol. Besides that it appeared very delicate, fruitful and profound. I got flavours of various white fruits, cantaloupe, coconut-chocolate (definitely not like Bounty), some nutty aromas, white plums, cream, plenty of bamboo, some minerals, some herbs and smooth white chocolaty silkiness. Silkiness, softness, high complexity and great mouth feel are the nailing descriptions. Especially the wonderfully tense and dense mouth feel and texture of this sake was a FANTASTIC!
That is a very competent tasting note, and gives me an excellent idea of what the sake is and the style. Given that it is a junmai daiginjyo, I would guess that this producer makes a much lighter style, as some can taste of black truffle, soil, mushroom, dark chocolate and coffee. Lots of complex aromas, and they are great for pairing with foods as well.
Those are Yen prices, so it actually works out at about $35-40 a bottle. I’m sure that with further export taxes and what not it will be double that when it arrives outside of Japan so it is by no means cheap, but it isn’t break the bank sort of stuff.
Having done some research it is actually read Hiraizumi. The last charactar is not Oni but is zumi written in caligraphic script, thus making it look like Oni.
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